


Locard’s Principle

by faithinthepoor



Series: Rizzoli and Isles [2]
Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 10:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor/pseuds/faithinthepoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set followng the episode Money for Nothing</p>
            </blockquote>





	Locard’s Principle

**Author's Note:**

> In my series this follows [Body of Evidence](http://archiveofourown.org/works/621139)

She’s always known that she’s not like other people. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that she was cut from a slightly different cloth to everyone else and being a rocket scientist is something that she could do in her sleep. She doesn’t say that lightly, the field of aerospace engineering is not something to be sneezed at but she just happens to understand the minutia of the academic and theoretical world with the ease with which other people breathe. From the point of view of IQ testing she qualifies as a genius and even though those tests are culturally biased and favour those with the level of education that she has received, she accepts that even a more objective measure would show that she is extremely intelligent. 

Intellectual pursuits are important to her but they are not her sole focus. She sees beauty in logic, in the manipulation of symbols and numbers but she also sees beauty in the world at large. Maura can see art in the mundane however her admiration for craftsmanship and commitment to one’s work tends to mean that she gravitates towards the finer things in life. True genius involves creation and although she may test extremely well this is an area that completely eludes her. Her brain is exceptional but on some level everything she achieves is derivative. 

For most of her life she has existed in two worlds. The world of academia with its rules and restrictions and puritanical stance on excess and the world of privilege where it’s crude to flaunt one’s wealth but cruder still to dress below one’s station. She has managed to navigate both worlds but she doesn’t belong to either of them. In order to do so she would need to make a choice – she would need to become a brain without a body or a body without a brain. She neglects neither her intelligence nor her aesthetics. So long as her results remain exemplary academics learn to ignore her appearance. They treat their bodies as nothing more than vehicles to carry around their mind and they eventually become oblivious to the fact that her vehicle is a more expensive model and better cared for than their’s. As for the Braham’s of Boston, they tolerant her abhorrent commitment to endeavours that neither yield profit nor fall under the acceptable behaviour of a bon vivant because her pedigree and the cut of her clothes demand that they must.

In her job as the chief medical examiner she thought she had found her niche. The dead don’t care who made her clothes or who does her hair and the collection of letters after her name is irrelevant to them. Nothing matters to them. They don’t want anything from her except to be heard. She is happy to listen. The dead whisper to her, their share their secrets with her in a way the living never have and probably never will. What she does here matters. What she does here makes a difference. 

She had thought that her work had also brought something else she lacked in her life. For a while she believed they she had made a real connection with someone. Recent events would suggest that the connection was more one-sided than she had thought and this has blown a rather large whole in her theory about attraction. If her narcissism was being fed by Jane being attracted to her, and she is talking platonically, Jane would not have so easily abandoned her once she caught a glimpse of the world that Maura come from.

Part of her wants to be furious at Jane. If anyone had the right to be mad it was Maura, she has done nothing to deserve being rejected simply because she had a different upbringing. The answer as to why stepping onto the Fairfield’s property changed the way Jane feels about her is beyond her comprehension. Money and education are a part of her history but they do not define her and it hurts to think that Jane would think of her only in terms of her origins. In retrospect it sounds foolish, not to mention naive and completely illogical, but she had honestly believed that Jane saw all of her. Jane’s turncoat behaviour suggests that not only does see she not see Maura but she thinks far less of Maura than Maura thinks of Jane. Although she’s willing to admit that that isn’t difficult given she thinks the world of Jane. 

She may have joked about having drinks containing 24 carat gold flecks but even she understands that humour is often just a defence mechanism. When Jane had arrived with her metal laden block of chocolate she had briefly believed that it was a form of apology and the thought had made her heart sing. The feeling was quickly transformed to heartbreak when she learned that the chocolate was nothing more than a bribe. Jane’s Judas kiss should have generated more ire than it did, after all it pegged Jane as hypocrite who was willing to be angry at Maura for being connected to the Fairfields and yet happy to use those same connections if it would help her make her case. It is a sign of her hopeless devotion to Jane that all Maura was able to feel was devastated.

Most people seem to think that she lacks emotions. She knows she doesn’t display her feelings are readily as others seem to but that doesn’t mean she can’t be hurt. To know that she had once loved a man who turned out to be cold blooded killer hurts her deeply. To have helped Jane to hunt him even though Jane was busy treating her badly doesn’t fill her with a whole lot of warmth either. She has definitely had better days.

Apparently feeling like she has been run over by a steamroller isn’t enough for her to turn down a drink invitation from Jane. So now she finds herself sipping beer out of a bottle and trying to remember that she is meant to be feeling bad. It seems that no matter what is going on in her life, being near Jane has the capacity to make her feel better. The conversation has been light and they have been dancing around the enormous elephant in the room until Jane drains her fourth bottle and begins her assault on bottle number five.

“I’m sorry that things turned out the way they did.”

“I doubt that,” she replies curtly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jane has placed her anger on simmer but Maura can see that she is prepared to bring it to the boil if necessary.

“You solved the case.”

“That does always make me feel good,” Jane admits, “but I didn’t want it to be at your expense.”

“It’s not about me. It’s about finding the truth and Adam deserved the truth even if it makes me uncomfortable.”

“You said you loved Garret.”

“I did once. There was a time when he meant everything to me. To think that he was capable of this all along makes me doubt myself.”

“We all make mistakes.”

“Let me know when one of yours kills a family member.”

“Shall do but you’ve met my family, there is every chance that the next person you know who kills a family member will be me.”

She smiles, an action that seems inappropriate given this should be a sombre occasion, “I’m sure that you will have the wherewithal not to get court.”

“I could commit a perfect murder.”

“It’s hard not to leave traces.”

“That’s where you come in. You would be my secret science advisor and ensure that I don’t leave any DNA or transfer any reddish brown stains onto my clothing.”

“I don’t think I would allow you to use my scientific knowledge for such purposes.”

“You weren’t emphatic about saying no so I think there might be room for me manoeuvre.”

“Besides I think my skills are better placed in making sure that your mother isn’t poisoning the neighbourhood.”

Jane slaps herself on the forehead, “She is going to force me to buy gallons of her potion before she gets tired of this endeavour. I am going to need to get you to help me drink it.”

“Couldn’t you just throw it out?”

“No. She would know. Angela Rizzoli always knows. She is like a human polygraph.”

“Polygraphs are flawed. They have no reliability or validity. There is a reason that their results are not admissible in a court of law.”

“When it comes to reading me my mother would pass any test that you threw at her.”

“Her ability comes from the fact that she knows you and can read the nuances in your expressions and behaviours. You could teach yourself to control those reactions.”

“It wouldn’t help, her ability comes from witchcraft.”

“If you say so.”

“I know you don’t believe that she has special powers but it’s nice of you not to give me a lecture on that fact that witches don’t exist.”

“Wicca is a recognised religion and many cultures believe in..” she pauses when she sees the expression on Jane’s face, “but you don’t really want me to tell you about that.”

“Not really, I just want us to enjoy our drinks and pretend that none of this ever happened.”

“Does that mean that we are ok?”

“I think we will be. Are you mad at me?”

“No. Are you mad at me?”

“Well you did take Frost and Korsak out for oysters at a fancy restaurant and not me.”

“I think you’ll find that we weren’t talking at the time.”

“You could have got Korsak to pass on an invite to me.”

“Do you even like oysters?”

“God no but I like to be invited.”

“You got invited to meal.”

“In future I think it’s safer if you keep me away from any meals where the table setting includes a melon baller.”

“It was a melon spoon.”

“Melon spoon, icecream scoop whatever. I will settle for places where I don’t have to chose which fork to use.”

“I seem to recall that you liked the champagne.”

“Ooooh that I did.” Jane’s eyes light up at the memory. “Can you buy me some of that for my birthday.”

“I already brought you a nice dress.”

“Yes you did but I ruined it with the runny food. That should be another rule. We should not go places where the food is too juicy.”

“I will keep that in mind. So you only want us to go to places with dry food, limited silverware and quality champagne?”

“That sounds ideal.”

“I’ll get the dress dry-cleaned for you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It looks good on you. I want you to be able to wear it.”

“It is a nice dress but I feel a little strange letting you buy me something like that.”

“I couldn’t let you go in what you had.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t like my clothes?”

She rolls her eyes, “I think you know that we have different taste in couture.”

“That’s very tactful of you but you could have just brought me a boubou, I know how found you are of those.”

“It would not have been appropriate for the situation but I’ll get you one if you like.”

“I could totally rock a boubou.”

Maura doesn’t disagree, Jane looks good in everything, which is a blessing given the state of her wardrobe, “I’m sure you could but you should really keep the other dress as well.”

“I will. I’m sorry if I didn’t seem grateful for the dress.”

“You don’t need to be sorry.”

“Yes I do. I’ve been a bit of a dick to you.”

“It hurt me that you didn’t think I was on your side.”

“Most of the time I’m sure that you are but in the back of my mind I guess I worry that you are on some sort of anthropological study of the little people.”

“If I were it would have been over by now. You little people just aren’t that interesting.”

“I seem to recall that you told me that I was complex and difficult for you to understand.”

“You are but that is not sufficient material for a rigorous sociocultural study.”

“Are you trying to tell me that I’m boring?”

“Not to me.”

“That’s very sweet.”

“I am very sweet and I also have your back.”

“I know.”

“I hope you remember that.”

“I’ll try.”

“Hey I have left a body and a crime scene to the elements and I have lied for you, I’m pretty sure those things come under the heading of having your back.”

“You didn’t really lie for me.”

“I circumvented the truth in an act of deception.”

“But you didn’t really lie.”

“It would have undermined your position if I had have hyperventilated and possibly vomited on you.”

“That might have proved problematic,” Jane agrees.

“I did my best.”

“I’m sure you did.”

“I feel a little insulted,” she tries to sound indignant but she still can’t stop herself from smiling.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I find it adorable that your body revolts if you try to lie. It’s refreshing seeing I spend my life surrounded by pathological liars.”

“It’s nice to know there is an upside to knowing me.”

“There are lots of upsides to you Maura and I am sorry about the way I acted. I want us to be comfortable in each other’s worlds but I feel so completely useless in yours.”

“It’s not like I blend in in yours either.”

“I suppose not. I guess that makes us even.”

“I concur. We are equally useless and will need be there to support one another.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Jane raises her beer and Maura clinks the bottles together. Beer may not be her drink of choice but it’s not completely awful and she is willing to tolerate worse things in order to make Jane happy. You can’t live you life in stasis, change is inevitable and she is certain that the changes she has made through knowing Jane are for the better. In Maura’s mind they help one another to grow. Their interactions have made both of them better people. She doesn’t want to have to go back to who she was before she knew Jane and she’s willing to do everything in her power to make sure that that does not happen.


End file.
